Toadfrogs and Elephants

Wade and I stayed up much too late last night. We did make it on time to the new church in Greenville where we were meeting Kendall and James. I have to admit it is the friendliest church I have been to and puts all other host teams to shame. At this church, the entire congregation acted as a host team. The people were genuinely interested in us and quickly found people we would connect with (age, job, location, etc.). After the two hour service, the four of us went to lunch at a local diner. We haven’t seen the Pickens in quite a while so lunch was a couple of hours long.

Wade and I had dinner plans in Greenville and not enough time to go back to Anderson. Instead we ran by the mall and then went to the park and took a nap. I haven’t had such a relaxing day in ages. The park is in downtown Greenville with an awesome suspension bridge. There is a river with rocks that make it easy for everyone to wade in and play.

Dinner was the planning of something fun. More about that in a few weeks.

I have the perfect job. There are always smiling faces, power tools, and interesting conversations. A group of 15 guys planned a cartoon showing of Transformers at lunch today and Wade and I joined in. Where else could you watch old school cartoons on a big screen tv during lunch with a group of friends? I love this job.

After two days of not working (I had been checking and hoping), the tv suddenly came back to life. We still aren’t sure what happened or if this will happen again, but for now we don’t need a new tv. Thank goodness. The sad part is Wade has spent the last two days researching new tv’s. (Wade can’t help himself. Before we make any significant purchase he has to do his research. It’s great for me and very frustrating for him.) He doesn’t want all that work to go to waste. Therefore, I am going to share what he has learned with you. He says the ideal flat screen tv (for the measurements of our entertainment center) is a 42″ LG LCD panel Tv.

We have lots of tools at our house. Wade and I both brought quite a few to the marriage and we have accumulated even more in our 2.5 years living together. Some things we consider jointly owned and others have a specific owner. I have my own drill and orbital sander. I do not have my own belt sander. However that seems to be one of the tools I use the most. I have been working around lots of Ridgid and Ryobi tools and really want a Ridgid belt sander (I like the orange). I tried to buy one at the last tool sale but they were only sold in combo kits. Then I randomly found one in an extra cubicle of my department. I did the good thing and found the department owner (I have no idea how it got in one of my cubicles). I let him know I knew of a good home for it, but he took it anyway. Then today he brought it back!! Now I can’t wait to go home and find a new project. I think I am going to bake him cookies!

It has not been our month. Not long after we get our refrigerator fixed, our tv breaks. We have been discussing buying a plasma tv in recent months and now we have a really good excuse, but we had actually decided against it for now. Wade bought our current tv when he was an undergrad, which means it is around six years old. The cost of repair is significant enough we might as well get what we want. Guess we are going tv shopping tomorrow.

On a side note, I normally do the ironing while watching television. I guess this is a good reason not to do it for a while, right?

I spent a good chunk of Friday night putting a second coat of paint on the trim in the mudroom. Oil-based paint is just not fun. And trying to clean up a drip from an uneven brick floor is near to impossible. Good thing I like the “lived-in” look.

Wade spent part of Saturday making me a coark board for the wall. We recently bought one for the kitchen and after much searching bought the best we could find. It isn’t very nice. The cork is very thin and backed with a board. Trying to push in a push-pin takes super effort. Wade knew exactly what I wanted so he built a nice one, with a thick cork board, for the entryway of the mudroom.

Now there are only two projects left in association with the mudroom – Wade is going to lay hardwood steps and we are going to redo the shop door. A dog has previously chewed on it quite a bit and I broke one of the window panes when we first moved in.

Target seems to be getting rid of most of it’s pet supplies. I bought Madison a half-priced duck. She had a snow goose at Christmas and carried it around for a week or two before she killed it. The duck only lasted two days. If you look closely you will see the stuffing hanging to her chin. Such a neat dog when she kills her duck, isn’t she?

Well I’ve had a Market Fresh Turkey sandwich on my mind. Today I actually went to the right restaurant and got almost what I ordered. Evidently “no sauce” doesn’t include mayonnaise. I’ll have to be more specific next time. I wiped off what I could and still enjoyed my sandwich.